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Last month, the research team at LSN spoke with 80 investors seeking to make allocations into privately held life science and healthcare companies. These investors spanned 16 countries, and while a majority were based in the United States, LSN found a significant investor presence spread all around the globe (See figure below).

Source: LSN Investor Platform | Data as of October 31, 2015

What is more interesting than where these investors are based, however, is where geographically they are willing to make allocations if the right opportunity were to arise.

Source: LSN Investor Platform | Data as of October 31, 2015

Nearly half of the investors LSN’s research team spoke with in the last month are looking around the globe for investment opportunities. This trend is driven by a number of factors LSN Research is seeing in the space, including Asia-based investors looking overseas to bring technologies back to their local regions. LSN Research has also found that large pharma, medical device and technology companies (and their corporate VC arms) are increasingly interested in scouting globally for new technologies for their pipelines.

The chart below shows the different types of investors that LSN’s research team spoke with in October; LSN has found great diversity in the investor ecosystem.

Source: LSN Investor Platform | Data as of October 31, 2015

As LSN researches life science investors, the team meets an increasing number of investors outside of the traditional path of venture capital who are seeking to make allocations in the space. While venture capital remains a significant player that catches a majority of headlines, there are also many other investors operating in the space. By only attempting to secure funding from venture capital groups, you are greatly limiting your chances of finding the right funding partner.

While this roundup provides an overview of some of the information LSN has recently gathered regarding investor interest, LSN collects many other details that help us identify suitable opportunities for each investor. The research team at LSN looks forward to continuing to fill in our readership with any and all developments and trends we uncover when speaking with investors in this space.

Hot Mandates

The firm is focused on therapeutics companies and does not invest in medical devices, diagnostics, or digital health. The firm is open to considering assets of very early stages, even those as early as lead optimization phase. The firm considers various modalities, including antibodies, small molecules, and cell therapy. Currently, the firm is not interested in gene therapy. Indication-wise, the firm is most interested in oncology and autoimmune diseases but has recently looked at fibrotic diseases and certain rare diseases as well.

The firm is opportunistic across all subsectors of healthcare. Within MedTech, the firm is most interested in medical devices, artificial intelligence, robotics, and mobile health. The firm is seeking post-prototype innovations that are FDA cleared or are close to receiving clearance. Within therapeutics, the firm is interested in therapeutics for large disease markets such as oncology, neurology, and metabolic diseases. The firm is open to all modalities with a special interest in immunotherapy and cell therapy.

A strategic investment firm of a large global pharmaceutical makes investments ranging from $5 million to $30 million, acting either as a sole investor or within a syndicate. The firm is open to considering therapeutic opportunities globally, but only if the company is pursuing a market opportunity in the USA and is in dialogue with the US FDA.

The firm is currently looking for new investment opportunities in enterprise software, medical devices, and the healthcare IT space. The firm will invest in 510k devices and healthcare IT companies, and it is very opportunistic in terms of indications. In the past, the firm was active in medical device companies developing dental devices, endovascular innovation devices, and women’s health devices.

A venture capital firm founded in 2005 has multiple offices throughout Asia, New York, and San Diego. The firm has closed its fifth fund in 2017 and is currently raising a sixth fund, which the firm is targeting to be the largest fund to date. The firm continues to actively seek investment opportunities across a […]

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